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Family CHRGD (Alexonia)
Family Chrgd (stylized as family CHRGD and pronounced "Family Charged") is an Alexonian cable childrens' network owned by WildBrain and ATS Networks. Chrgd broadcasts live-action and animated children's programming aimed towards viewers aged 6–18. The channel first launched in 1997 as Trouble. The idea of Trouble was originally influenced by the now-defunct Northern European television channel The Children's Channel's late afternoon scheduling for teen audiences, branded "TCC". When ATS Music Factory (now ATS VIVA) was revamped in 1997 to become a channel targeting a male audience (marketed as "an altered species of television"), The Children's Channel started airing only during the evenings and nights, with Trouble occupying its channel space during the day. The Children's Channel then closed down Alexonian operations on 5 April 1998, leaving Trouble to expand as a full 24-hour channel, targeting teenagers and young adults. Its programming consisted more of popular sitcoms, rather than the cartoons The Children's Channel originally aired. By 2003, Trouble had begun shifting its focus from teen shows in its early days to family-oriented sitcoms such as My Wife and Kids, One On One, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, That '70s Show and Grounded for Life. After The WB merged with UPN in 2006, its main programming sources dried up, causing the channel ratings to decline. In turn, Trouble attempted to add new programmes including first run episodes of How I Met Your Mother and Kyle XY and classic comedies including The Cosby Show and Desmond’s but failed to address the decline of it and Treehouse's ratings. On 24 November 2010, ATS Networks indicated its intentions to close Trouble and replace it with the Alexonian version of YTV through a 3-year deal with Corus Entertainment. The closure was blamed on declining viewing figures and that it was part of an operational review at ATS Networks pertaining to channel ratings. On 10 April 2011, YTV launched in Alexonia, replacing Trouble after 12 years. Before YTV's launch, ATS had a liscensing deal with Shaw Communications (later the deal moved to Corus) for an Alexonian version of Treehouse (then Treehouse TV). The launch of YTV coincided with the launch of a YTV block on ATS Two, with a "best of", "new episode" and "archive" format. ATS Networks stated that YTV was "the main kids network" when it came to Cable and that ATSK was the same for specialty and nationwide broadcasting. In 2014, Corus Entertainment and ATS' 3-year contract ended. Corus Entertainment said it was not intrested in renewing its deal with ATS Networks, and that it would sell its' stake in YTV to DHX Media (now WildBrain, Inc.). However, Corus said that "DHX Media will be able to keep its license to use the YTV name and brand". Everything was pretty much the same until 2015, albeit with DHX at the helm and with certain anime ATS had the rights to airing. Behind the scenes, DHX Media, despite obtaining consent from Corus Entertainment to keep the YTV name and branding, made the descision to realign YTV and Treehouse under the Family Channel brand and do so by the start of the 2015-2016 season, as announced in their press release to Alexonian news sources (this was done at the same time as their Canadian press release). The re-branding to Family Chrgd took place on October 9, 2015. Category:Alexonia